CALAR ALTO: Spain’s Enric Mas extended his overall lead in the Vuelta a Espana with a late attack on his rivals as Slovenia’s Jakob Omrzel won stage 12 to Calar Alto on Thursday.

Movistar rider Mas burst out of a chasing group including red jersey contenders Primoz Roglic and Felix Gall with around 13km of the mountainous 166.6-km ride left and powered away.

Roglic and Gall, who began the day second and third on general classification, could not respond as Mas finished 27 seconds clear of Roglic to strengthen his hold on the race.

Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious) attacked from a whittled-down lead group on the final ascent to Calar Alto and kept the power down to cross the line almost two minutes clear of Urko Berrade Fernandez with Santiago Buitrago third.

Aged 20, Omrzel is younger than Slovenian great Tadej Pogacar was when he won his first Grand Tour stage.

Mas took over the leadership when overwhelming favourite and clear race leader Pogacar crashed out on stage eight and on a baking hot day in southern Spain on Thursday, he put down a big statement of intent for the remaining stages.

The Mallorcan now leads by one minute and 45 seconds from Roglic with Gall at 2:06.

“I’m really happy with the team today, really proud of them,” said Mas, who was helped by Raul Garcia Pierna on the final climb to the Vuelta’s highest summit finish this year at 2,153m.

“To take 27 seconds on Roglic is really important for the next week. I was confident today and I knew the climb.”

Britain’s Oscar Onley was the biggest loser on the day in the battle for overall victory as a crash meant the Bahrain Victorious rider finished more than two minutes behind Mas.

After some initial climbs, a 30-rider breakaway group formed after 40km including Wout van Aert who took useful points in both the points and mountain categories.

Omrzel and Leo Bisiaux attacked on the day’s penultimate climb but were brought back near the top, but on Calar Alto, Omrzel made his move. Berrade Fernandez was the only rider to hang on but could not resist as Omrzel powered on.

“I’m not surprised because I know how much work I put in, and I knew that these days were going to come sooner or later,” Omrzel said. “But for sure, I was not expecting 100% to do it on my first Grand Tour.”

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2026